Scores take to Lake Tappan for 4th annual paddle day

Kayaker being launches into the water for Lake Tappan Paddle Day sponsored by the Hackensack Riverkeeper and United Water.

The sports fishermen who frequent Lake Tappan usually see an unbroken plane of water from shore to shore. Saturday was different. Bright yellow, orange and sky-blue specks were scattered across the gray surface of the water – a small armada of kayaks and canoes.

It was the fourth annual family paddle day on the lake in Old Tappan, sponsored by Hackensack Riverkeeper and United Water, the company that operates the lake as a drinking-water reservoir.

The event drew about 100 paddlers – beginners and experts alike - for the once-a-year chance to explore a water body that sits in the middle of the suburbs of northern Bergen County but is normally off limits to the general public.

“It’s an opportunity and novelty for people who see the lake all the time and wish they could actually experience it on the water,” said Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper. “We help fulfill their wish.”

Dave and Susan Chambers of Oradell brought their son, Colin, 11 – they had never tried canoeing together before. “I liked attempting to try to be the person who steered,” Colin said, and grinned.

“Yes – we made a few circles in the water,” his dad said, and laughed.

Susan Chambers said they saw a heron, geese and some ducks during their excursion.

Rogelio Ayala of Waldwick brought his son Marcelo, 9. They too took in the wildlife scene.

“We saw some cool birds,” Ayala said.

He said they also saw some fish jumping during their paddle — Lake Tappan is home to largemouth and smallmouth bass, carp and white perch. It was clear that Ayala had some experience kayaking – he had sensibly put his wallet and cell phone in a sealable plastic bag.

Diana Barral of Norwood and Ed Witkowski of Northvale shared a canoe and learned the art of teamwork.

“I was in the back at first, but I said, ‘I don’t know how to steer!’” Barral said, and laughed.

“We did do a bunch of S-turns,” Witkowski said. “Paddling a canoe can get a little hairy. It was a good team-building exercise.”

Once the pair got the hang of things and could focus on the scenery, they spotted an egret.

Judith Bihaly, on the other hand, has been canoeing and kayaking for more than a decade. She said she is drawn to the water – that’s why she lives in Edgewater with a view of the Hudson.

Despite leaden skies Saturday, her two hours on Lake Tappan were “magical,” she said. “You’re just floating by, seeing the water birds, and there’s the silence, the peace.”

Al Fazio of Westwood brought his daughter, Mia, 11. “We often pass this lake, and it was neat to see it from a different perspective,” Fazio said. They used the quiet time on the water to talk. “It was a chance for us to get caught up,” he said.

Lake Tappan is one of three North Jersey reservoirs along the Hackensack River and its Pascack Brook tributary that supply drinking water to United Water’s 800,000 residential customers in Bergen and Hudson counties. Lake Tappan was created by an earthen dam set across the Hackensack in 1966. The reservoir drains an area of 49 square miles, and it is slightly larger than the Oradell Reservoir, with a capacity of 3.9 billion gallons – about 14 Empire State Buildings worth of water.

The event “is a way to partner with Hackensack Riverkeeper to help the public get an appreciation for this water resource,” said Ray Cywinski, United Water’s watershed manager.

He said the reservoir isn’t typically open recreational boating in part because of the fear of “aquatic hitchhikers” – invasive species that can migrate from one water body to another on the hulls of pleasure boats and kayaks that are not washed down after each use.

Cywinski said about 60 acres at the northern end of Lake Tappan are currently overrun with water chestnut, an invasive plant that floats on the water surface. United Water is trying to keep the species from getting downstream into the Oradell Reservoir, where the company’s drinking water intake is located, because it could clog equipment and also create taste and odor problems.